


Who's Your Daddy?

by RenkonNairu



Category: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Genre: Angst, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Daddy Issues, Drama, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Melodrama, Reddit Fan Theory, Skeletor is Adam and Adora's biological father, The Author Regrets Nothing, first 2 chapters are angst, starts to get funny in chapter 3, the author is obvious and shameless weeb-trash, this might as well be a telenovela
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27224671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenkonNairu/pseuds/RenkonNairu
Summary: -Discontinued, Abandoned-Everything seems like an average adventure until someone uses an all-powerful item that dispels all magic. Apparently, Prince Adam has been under a glamour his whole life to make him appear human. But he's not. It is very quickly revealed that Adam is part Gar.One quarter Gar, to be exact. Because his father was half-Gar. Because Adam's father is actually Skeletor.
Relationships: He-Man | Adam & Keldor, He-Man | Adam & Marlena, He-Man | Adam & Skeletor, Keldor & Randor (He-Man), Marlena & Skeletor, Marlena/Randor (He-Man), Randor & Skeletor
Comments: 20
Kudos: 19





	1. A Dramatic Reveal

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off a fan theory from Reddit, that later blew out of proportion on Tumblr.  
> [Reddit Thread (archived)](https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/785fnz/hemanskeletor_is_the_adams_biological_father/)  
> [the wonderful Tumblr crack](https://emperorsfoot.tumblr.com/post/633102661764399104)  
> 

Skeletor thought he won. No, he knew he won! 

The whole palace of Eternos was under his M’guffin spell. Everyone was bewitched to do his bidding! Man-at-Arms and his plucky daughter, Teela, Ram Man and Mekaneck, Stratos and Buzz Off! Even Randor was under Skeletor’s thrall and it was glorious! 

The only one not affected was He-Man. Of course that damn Power Sword of his protected him from being affected by the M’guffin’s power. 

But that was fine. All his friends were under Skeletor’s power and that was even better! 

Skeletor leaned back in Randor’s throne, cackling with glee as he watched the meddling hero block or dodge attacks from his friends but refused to attack them in return. 

“This is the most fun I’ve had in ages!” Evil-Lyn leaned against the armrest of the throne at Skeletor’s right hand. 

He cackled again. “Indeed. Aren’t you having fun, He-Man!? Mye~e-ha-ha-ha!”

He-Man just grit his teeth and growled. He didn’t wanna hurt his friends, but he also had to stop Skeletor and his friends were in the way! 

Then Orko burst in!

The Trollan magician was at Castle Grayskull at the time that Skeletor cast his M’guffin spell and so was unaffected. The Sorceress gave him an ancient and powerful magical item that would dispel all magic around it. Spells, curses, enchantments, glamours, etc. Everything. No matter how powerful or how old. A catch-all magical off-switch. 

Skeletor commanded the Masters under his control to, “Get the jester!” 

Randor, seemed particularly motivated to stop Orko from dispelling all magic in the palace. More so than anyone else under Skeletor’s control.   
Orko managed to activate the item anyway and all magic was dispelled. 

All magic. 

No matter how powerful…

He-Man reverted back to being Prince Adam. 

No matter how old…

Except now Prince Adam doesn’t look like Prince Adam anymore. His face is still the same. High cheekbones and a square chin with a slight cleft in it. But his skin is blue now. His ears pointed instead of round. His hair silver-white instead of yellow-blond.

The Sword of Power clattered to the floor at Adam’s side as he sank to his knees, staring at his hands –his now blue hands- on confusion. As if he’d never seen his own hands before. “W-what?”

Marlena ran to her son. 

“Damn it!” Randor swore.

Skeletor stood from the throne. Then froze. Just staring at Adam. The wheels in his skull turning slowly, trying to process what he was seeing. That was He-Man a couple seconds ago. Now it was Adam, Prince Adam. Marlena’s son Adam! Adam was He-Man? What in all the Hells, and by all the gods above and below was going on!? 

Adam could not be He-Man! 

Adam could not stop staring at his blue hands. “What’d it do to me?”

“Oh, Adam-” Marlena hugged her son. “We didn’t want you to know...”

“Marlena?” Skeletor finally took a step down from the dais. “He doesn’t know? You never told him?”

But at that exact moment Randor shouted for all the Masters present to, “Get him!” 

Every warrior in the room pounced on Skeletor and Evil-Lyn and the villains had to make a hasty exit in order to escape. 

Adam was left, sitting on the floor, with more questions than he’d ever had in his entire life. “Will someone please explain to me what’s going on?”

Marlena heaved a heavy sigh. “Randor and I agreed never to tell you this, we thought the glamour would be permanent so it would never come up. But…” a heavy sigh “…there’s no hiding it now. I don’t know how to tell you this, Adam, but your father isn’t your father. Before I was married to Randor, I was married to his brother.”

…

Back at Snake Mountain, Skeletor was in a rage. 

Not over losing the throne of Eternia after it was already in his grasp (although, he was mad about that too). 

“Don’t worry, Boss.” Beastman tried to console him. “We’ll get ‘em next time! He-Man won't know what hit 'em!”

Rather than comfort the sorcerer, this had the opposite effect. “You will do no such thing!” He roared. “Adam is a child! Barely sixteen! Randor shouldn’t even be allowing him to- to-“ He aimed his Havoc Staff at a random patch of floor. Blasting it with raw, focusless magic. “Adam shouldn’t be He-Man!”

“Yeah!” Agreed Trap Jaw, not entirely sure what it was he was agreeing to. Just that he was sucking up to the Boss. “No one should be He-Man! There shouldn’t be a He-Man!” 

Tri-Klops rotated his eyes. “Why are you more upset about Prince Adam being He-Man than you are about losing the throne, Boss?”

Turning to face him, Skeletor fixed the full force of his death-glare on his three-eyed minion. 

Tri-Klops took a step back. Skeletor was never more terrifying than when that death-mask of a face he had fixed you with a death-glare. 

“Didn’t you notice?” Evil-Lyn asked. She was lounging on Skeletor’s throne, her back against one armrest, her legs thrown over the other. Running a finger over the surface of the crystal top of her staff. “When the Trollan dispelled all magic in the room, and the life-long glamour on the Prince was lifted, Adam was no human at all. Well, no full human anyway. Prince Adam is part Gar!”

“Get off of my throne.” Skeletor growled. 

Evil-Lyn only shrugged and got up. Skeletor climbed the steps to take up his usual eat, and Evil-Lyn paused as they passed each other, her eyes holding the gaze of his empty eye-sockets. She knew why he was really so upset about Adam being their enemy. 

“I’m always happy to see Gar holding positions of influence.” Trap Jaw announced. He himself was Gar, like Skeletor, and –apparently- like Prince Adam as well. There weren’t very many of them left on Eternia, and even fewer in any kind of position of power or authority. “But Randor and Marlena are both human. So, how is their son half-Gar?”

Skeletor slammed a fist down on the armrest of his throne. “Not half-Gar! Adam is only a quarter-Gar!”

All eyes in the room turned back to their moody leader. “How’d you know that, Boss?”

In response to this question, all Skeletor did was growl. 

Everyone took a step back in fear. 

All except Evil-Lyn who laughed. “Oh, this really is rich!” She taunted. “Don’t be shy, Skeletor, tell them! King Randor is not Queen Marlena’s first husband, but her second. Her real first husband was Randor’s older brother. Miro’s first son. Whom was half-Gar.”

…

“His name was Keldor.” Marlena explained. 

She took Adam to her private apartments and he sat on the sofa in her sitting room, a blanket draped around his shoulders, a hug of hot coco in his hands, as his mother searched her suite of rooms for something. When she finally returned to her son in the sitting room, she was carrying a very old and well-worn leather bound book. Upon opening it, Adam saw that it was a scrapbook. 

He reached out to take the book from his mother, but seeing the new and unfamiliar blue skin of his own wrists, Adam pulled his hands back without ever touching the book. 

Marlena sat next to him, adjusting the pillows behind her back, and turned the pages for him. 

The first page seemed innocuous enough. Just two locks of hair. Each tied with its own ribbon and glued to the page. One, a reddish brown that had to be Marlena’s tied with a pale sage green ribbon, the other an ebony black tied with a light lavender ribbon. 

“It was an arranged marriage.” She explained. “Keldor and I never actually loved each other. But, Keldor was always so desperate to win his father’s approval back then, he was willing to do anything. Including break-up with his girlfriend at the time and marry a woman he didn’t even know. And I was a different person back then, too. Younger, more obedient, and willing to do what I was told. And when I was told to get married-“ Marlena shrugged “-I did.”

She turned the page. This one featured a photograph and Adam got his first glimpse of his biological father. 

He didn’t really know what he was expecting. Blue skin, obviously. He’d been staring at his own skin since the glamour was dispelled. And pointed ears too. Adam reached up a hand to feel the points of his own ears. 

The man in the picture had those. But he also had the same cheekbones and nose as his fath- as Randor. Mother did say they were brothers. Of course they would have traits in common. They were the same cheekbones and nose that Adam inherited. But the chin was narrower and hidden under a goatee the same ebony black as the hair on his head, which he wore long and unbound. It draped around his shoulders, dark and straight. 

The photo had to be their wedding photo because his mother was wearing a long flowing gown, mostly white with sage green trim. The man, Keldor, his… father… was wearing dark purple robes with high shoulders that flared up, similar to some of the statues clothing he’d seen on the island of Anwat Gar. 

Neither of them looked particularly happy or particularly affectionate. Looking at the camera with patient expressions. 

Adam held his wrist against the photo, comparing the blue shades of their skin tones. Adam was just a noticeable shade lighter than his father. If Keldor was a cerulean blue, then Adam was really more of a summer sky. 

He lowered his hand and looked back at his mother. “So, you didn’t love my father?”

Marlena only shrugged. “I didn’t not-love him. He was alight. Honestly, he wasn’t around much. Keldor was a great warrior, but he was an even better sorcerer and both of those things took constant training, study, and practice. These made a big demand on his time, and since he loved warcraft and sorcery and he did not love me, those were what he devoted his time to. I spent most of my time getting to know his brother.”

“Fath- I mean, Randor.” Adam looked down at his hands again. This was gonna take so much getting used to. Not just looking at himself in the mirror, but not calling the man who raised him his ‘father’ anymore. “The more I’m hearing about this, the more of a mess it’s starting to sound like.”

Moving the scrapbook to the coffee table, Marlena wrapped both arms around her son. This next part was going to be impossible for him to hear. 

“It’s about to become even messier.” She warned him. 

Adam nodded. This Keldor person wasn’t around anymore and no one even mentioned his name before now. His mother was now married to his fath- to King Randor. They had –apparently- placed a powerful glamour on him when he was a baby that was meant to last the whole of his lifetime, so that he would look completely human and no one would question that he was Randor’s son and not Keldor’s. 

Why?

What was so bad about Keldor that no one, not even Adam, could know he was his son?

“I want you to know that none of what I’m about to tell you changes anything.” Marlena was so firm, and insistent, and serious when she said this. Speaking as gravely as if someone had died. “Keldor was always kind to me, and before everything changed, Randor loved him very much. They were half-brothers, but they were very close.”

“O… kay…” Adam eased away from the hug just a little bit, unsure if he was ready to hear the next part. His mother was being so cryptic and vague, but also so serious and grave. And what wasn’t fath- Randor, why wasn’t Randor here for these explanations? Since Keldor was his brother and they, apparently, ‘were very close’. 

So close, in fact, that they both married the same woman. 

“Keldor was always desperate to win his father’s love, or even just earn his approval.” Marlena continued. “Well into his adulthood. I think I realized it before he did, but Miro would never approve of Keldor. Sometimes, I wonder if he even ever loved him at all. Keldor was half-Gar and it was widely rumored that Miro never intended to have him in the first place. Keldor became so bitter and resentful. It just seethed inside him. All those negative emotions, festering in his heart like a disease. And when Miro publically named Randor as his heir, choosing the younger brother over Keldor, that was the breaking point for him.” 

“Did Keld- did my father attack Randor?” Adam asked, already guessing the answer. 

“Among other things.” Marlena nodded. “They fought, and Keldor was irreparably injured. He retreated and had a friend of his, another sorcerer, heal him. Well, heal him as best she could. They never did manage to repair his face.” 

“His face?” Adam asked. 

A hard, cold stone of dread sank into his stomach as that specific phrasing sent his imagination wild with possibilities. There were very few Gar left on Eternia. Sy-Klone was a Gar. So was Skeletor. And so was… Trap Jaw, Skeletor’s henchman and one of the Evil Warriors. His face was scarred green and his lower jaw was removed and replaced with a razor-teethed prosthetic. Could Trap Jaw have once been ‘Keldor’? 

Randor never mentioned the Evil Warrior being his estranged half-brother. But then, prior to just today, Randor never mentioned having a brother at all! 

Oh, Gods, please. Please, please, please, do not let the Evil Warrior Trap Jaw be his father! Adam did not want to imagine his mother ever kissing… that!

“Yes, his face.” Marlena nodded. “It was splashed with acid in the middle of the fight, all the skin and soft tissue melted away. Even his tongue and eyes. Nothing left… but just his bare skull.”

Adam stared at his mother. Her words taking far longer to reach his brain from his ears than they should. 

‘Nothing left but just his bare skull’. A bare skull. For his face. A skull for a face. Skull face. Like a skeleton’s like- like- like Skeletor!

Adam leapt to his feet. 

“No!” He heard himself shout, feeling oddly disconnected from his own body. 

Marlena, for her part, remained calm. Still sitting on the sofa. She closed the scrap book and smoothed out the fabric of her skirts. “It’s true.”

“No!” Adam said again. Perhaps imagining that if he kept denying it, it wouldn’t be true and he could go back to the way things were. 

“Skeletor used to be Keldor, and Keldor was your father.” Marlena summarized, just to make sure he was clear. 

“I- I’m not- I don’t-“ Adam had no idea what to say. Adam had no idea what to think! “I can’t deal with this!”

He ran from his mother’s suite, Cringer following after him.


	2. First Day As a Gar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My weeboo is really showing in this chapter. But I just want to be clear, the idea to make the Gar a Japanese-coded fantasy race was not mine. The Masters of the Universe canon already made the Gar Japanese for me. As of the 2002 He-Man episode "The Mystery of Anwat Gar" they are officially Fantasy Japan. But don't take my word for it. Watch the episode for yourself! The official MotU YouTube channel has the complete episode available to watch:  
> [Anwat Gar Episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThZ7ycxKbTo)  
> 
> 
> [You can also read my review of the episode because I have OPINIONS about it that I was not expecting to have about a children's show that's supposed to teach good morals!](https://emperorsfoot.tumblr.com/post/623655741607329792/i-started-watching-the-2002-he-man-series)   
> 
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy.

Adam was piloting a Wind Raider, Cringer sitting in the passenger seat like a loaf (as cats do). 

He wasn’t going anywhere in particular. He didn’t have a destination. Adam just needed to get away. Get out of the palace for a bit and clear his head. Let the rushing air of the Wind Rider blowing through his hair –which was silver-white, not yellow-blond- and over his ears –which were pointed, not round, sooth him as much as he was able to be soothed. 

Usually, when Adam needed answers about world-shattering revelations, he would go to Castle Grayskull and the Sorceress. 

But, after a new moments of thought, he realized that there were very few sorcerers on Eternia powerful enough to cast the kind of glamour that had been one him. One of them was the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull. She might even have been the one to do it. Adam wasn’t sure, but be also didn’t wanna find out. 

Jerking on the Wind Raider controls, Adam veered away from Castle Grayskull. 

But he wasn’t ready to go back to Eternos either. 

Adam chose another direction at random, not really sure where he was going. 

Until he realized he was now heading to Snake Mountain. Adam wanted to see Skeletor –Keldor –his real father even less than he wanted to hear the Sorceress confirm that it was true. 

Just before he reached the Sands of Time, Adam landed. Bringing the Wind Raider down by the first settlement he saw. 

Adam and Cringer hopped out and went into the village’s tavern. 

Everyone automatically looked up when a new person entered the tavern. Seeing only a Gar, they all quickly looked back at their meals or their drinks, and if Adam passed them on his own way to the bar, they avoided eye-contact. 

This was a stark contrast to how people used to act around him when he was blond, fair-skinned, and round-eared. Did they all already know that he was Skeletor’s son? That his father was the most infamous and evil terrorist on the planet? News couldn’t have reached this far out from Eternos already. Adam himself only just found out less than an hour ago. 

Yet, when he sat at the bar, the people that were already there scooted their bar stools away from him. 

“You lost, boy?” Asked the bartender. 

“More than I thought.” Adam admitted with a heavy sigh. He rested his face in his hands and heaved a second, groaning sigh. “Can I have a pop?”

Maybe a fizzy drink high in sugar would help him relax. 

“Ya got money to pay for that?” The bartender demanded, hands not even beginning to reach for the tap. Like hell was he gonna give this Gar brat a drink! 

Adam reached into his pockets. He’d never actually had to pay for anything before. Usually, people realized he was the Crown Prince and just gave him stuff. Man-at-Arms took a note of whatever it was and deducted the value of the item or service off of the total tithe that was owed to the Crown. To be completely honest, Adam only had a vague understanding of money and how it worked. He grew up privileged enough to never have to worry about it before. 

When his search of his pockets turned up nothing, the bartender gave him an unsympathetic frown. “I think you best be moving along, boy.”

“Oh, come on.” Adam tried to bargain. “If you just call Man-at-Arms at the palace of Eternos, I’m sure he’d be willing to pay you.”

“He your parole officer or something?” The bartender crossed his arms over his chest, unimpressed. 

“What? No.” Adam had never been more confused in his life. “He’s my mentor. Ya know what! Never mind!”

Pushing back from the bar, Adam stormed out of the tavern to his Wind Raider. 

Cringer rubbed up against him, offering what feline comfort he could. Adam scratched his head affectionately. That was one of the great things about pets. They didn’t care who your parents were or what you looked like. They just loved you because you loved them. “Thanks, Cringer.”

Adam was about to climb back into the Wind Raider when two local guards came up to him. “Excuse me, but is this your vehicle?”

“Yeah.” Adam answered, confused. 

“Are you sure?” They continued to press. “We’re gonna give you a chance to rethink your story, son.”

Now Adam was really, really confused. “It is my Wind Raider.”

“Sir, we already ran the plate of this Wind Raider is registered to the motorpool of the royal palace in Eternos.” They informed him. “Now are you gonna quit playing around, or are we gonna have to arrest you?”

“Arrest me?” For what? Having a bad day!

“Put your hands on the hood.” One guard commanded. 

“What? What for?” Adam didn’t move. 

The second guard drew his weapon. “Sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to stop resisting.”

“Resisting? I’m just standing here!”

The weapon that was draw was now lifted and pointed at Adam. “Put your hands on the hood!”

Adam had no idea what was even going on anymore. Why was this happening?

Being a Gar now changed everything!

…

Needless to say, Skeletor was restless. 

It wasn’t every day that you found out that your estranged son, that you had left in the care of your ex-wife and your brother, was also your greatest enemy and said ex-wife and brother were just letting him. 

How many times had Skeletor tried to kill He-Man?

How many times had he almost succeeded?

What if he had succeeded?

Skeletor would have killed his own son! 

Suddenly, the evil sorcerer was glad of every time that irritating and meddlesome hero thwarted his plans. Because every time it meant his son survived. That he was alive, and well, and clearly very healthy and energetic. All the things a kid should be. 

And he was a kid. 

Just a kid. Only sixteen. Randor had no business allowing Adam to be He-Man. Gallivanting around the planet fighting evil sorcerers and warrior terrorists. That was dangerous! Didn’t Randor realize how dangerous it was?! It was too dangerous for a kid! 

This kind of ‘laxed supervision was exactly the reason (one of the reasons) Skeletor tried to kidnap Adam and his sister when they were babies! 

Marlena was fine. She was smart, and patient, and good in a crisis. Skeletor trusted her. It was Rabdor he didn’t trust to raise his children! 

And it looked like his distrust of his brother was well founded. Since he let a sixteen year old child fight grown, adult, seasoned and experienced warriors and sorcerers with enough power to blow up a moon! 

Skeletor stood from his throne. 

Knowing that Adam was He-Man now changed everything! 

“Lyn, I’m going out!” He shouted to an empty throne room. 

He left. 

It was several minutes after Skeletor left that Evil-Lyn came into the throne room. “You say something Skeletor-?” She cut herself off when she saw the empty throne and realized she was talking to an empty room. Then she sighed, realizing there was only one place he could have gone. “Oh, lord.”

Skeletor intended to go all the way to Eternos and give Randor a piece of his mind. Where did he get off! Letting a child fight his battles for him! 

But he stopped as he was passing the village closes to Snake Mountain. Two of the local law enforcement had a young Gar boy bend over the hood of a Wind Raider. A young Gar being roughed up by the guards was nothing new. Even Skeletor had experienced similar treatments back when he was still Keldor. 

It was who that boy was that made Skeletor stop. 

Silver-white hair instead of a proper Garish ebony-black, implying that he was a Gar of mixed race. And when the boy lifted his head, Skeletor saw the high cheekbones and strait nose that ran on the Miro side of his family. 

The Gar boy being arrested was Adam. 

The Battle Ram Chariot screeched to a halt and Skeletor leapt out. “Release him you absolute tools!”

Both guards looked up, expecting to see just another angry Gar man. They already had their weapons out. What they saw instead was the most fearsome and terrifying sorcerer on the planet stalking towards them. His Havoc Staff in his hands, dark cape billowing out behind him. The death mask of his face glaring at them with murder in his empty eye sockets. 

Dropping their weapons, both guards threw their arms up in the air and backed away. 

“By the Goddess, it’s Skeletor!”

“We have to call the Masters!”

They both turned their backs and ran. As fast as they could. 

Adam raised himself up off the hood of the Wind Raider to shout after them. “Hey! At least undo these cuffs! Hey!”

Skeletor came up behind him. “Trust me, you don’t want their help.”

Using his magic, Skeletor broke the simple analogue lock on the handcuffs himself, releasing Adam’s hands. 

“I don’t want your help either!” Adam snarled at him, wheeling around to glare daggers at the sorcerer. 

Skeletor looked down at the boy. He didn’t really get much of a change to get a good look at him before. He always knew Adam was Gar like himself. But Adam had lived so long under that glamour that Skeletor was seeing his true face for the first time. 

His features were much the same as the glamour. Thick eyebrows, a strait nose, high cheekbones and a square jaw. He actually looked remarkably like Keldor and Randor’s father, Miro. It was really only the coloring that had changed. Instead of yellow-blond, the hair was silver-white; a rare color among Gar that usually only occurred in those of mixed race. The skin was blue, obviously, as that was a defining characteristic of the Gar race. The blue skin, and the pointed ears. 

Unconsciously, not realizing he was doing it, Skeletor reached a hand out to brush a lock of that silver-white hair behind one of those pointed sky blue ears. 

But Adam smacked his hand away, taking a step back. “Don’t touch me!”

Next to the boy, that irritating Green Tiger growled. 

Skeletor looked down at the cat and the grow was abandoned in favor of slinking behind the boy to cower instead.

Skeletor looked back up at Adam. “You should not be out here alone. Eternia is a dangerous planet.”

“Because of you!” Adam snapped. 

“Because of a lot of things.” Skeletor deflected. It was true. He was one of the most dangerous things on this planet. But that didn’t make him the only dangerous thing. “It’s especially dangerous for a Gar who doesn’t know what he’s doing. People you could normally go to for help when you were white will turn on you without a thought now that they see you’re… not.”

“That’s absurd!” Adam continued to argue. Why was he even arguing with Skeletor? Shouldn’t they just fight? That was how things normally went. Fight, defeat the sorcerer, then go home. Instead, here they were… talking. “Why should the color of my skin matter?”

“It shouldn’t.” Skeletor agreed. “But it does. And if you’re not mindful of that, you can find yourself in a lot of trouble for very little reason.”

Adam only continued to glare up at him skeptically. 

Skeletor crossed his arms over his chest. “What were you doing just now that made those guards want to arrest you?”

“Nothing.” Adam continued to insist. “They just didn’t believe that my Wind Raider was mine.”

“When you’re Gar, that’s all it takes.” Skeletor informed him. He moved back to his Battle Ram Chariot, holding a hand out for Adam to climb onto the chariot with him. “You and I are overdue for a chat.”

Adam stared at the outstretched hand. At Skeletor’s outstretched hand. Skeletor was offering him a ride. 

And that was only the fourth weirdest thing to happen to him today!

Adam knew he shouldn’t. Because it was a bad idea. Because Skeletor was dangerous. Because he should object on principal, they were enemies after all and spent so much time fighting each other that it was more likely this was some kind of trap and double cross (and a lazy one at that). If he went with Skeletor then how would the Wind Raider get back to the palace? He couldn’t just leave the Wind Raider. Every logical thought in Adam’s head told him to tell Skeletor to go to heck! 

He hesitated. 

Then Adam took the offered hand and climbed into the Battle Ram Chariot with Skeletor. With his… father…

“I won’t go back to Snake Mountain with you.” Adam informed him. “I won’t let you hold me prisoner while you go on a rampage across Eternia. Or use me as a hostage against the Masters. Or steal the Power Sword. Or-“

“We can talk on neutral ground.” Skeletor informed him, doing a subtle but odd little tilt and roll of the head that felt almost the same as if he were rolling his eyes. Skeletor didn’t have eyes, so he had to improvise the gesture. “I’ll treat you to something to eat.”

Adam opened his mouth to object. 

“Something I did not prepare myself and therefore would not have opportunity to poison or otherwise drug.” The sorcerer quickly added. 

Begrudgingly, Adam agreed to these terms. 

Cringer hopped into the chariot at the last second, sliding between their legs in a way that only a cat could and settled down for the trip. Like hell was he going to let Adam go anywhere with Skeletor alone! If it turned out that the vile sorcerer did have some kind of double cross planned, and Adam needed to defend himself, then He-Man would need his trusty Battle Cat by his side! 

Skeletor drove the Battle Ram to the coast. A small little fishing town on the edge of the Gnarl Sea. 

Adam stepped off of the chariot and paused. The first thing he noticed being that he and Skeletor were not the only people in town with blue skin. 

Several Gar, or mixed-Gar walked the streets. All varying shades of blue. Not just cerulean and sky, like Skeletor and himself. But azure, lapis, and cobalt. Most everyone had black hair too, but Adam did see a few of the younger children running around with his same silver-white hair. And the textures were all many and varied as well. Not just strait and sleek, but wavy, curly, thin and gossamer, thick and frizzy, tight ringlets, or long coils. Adam had never seen so many Gar in one place before. 

Before today, the only Gar he even knew were Sy-Klone, Trap Jaw, and Skeletor. When Man-at-Arms took him to Anwat Gar to thwart another of Skeletor’s schemes, the island –the supposed homeland of the Gar- was completely empty. Adam always just assumed that the Gar were basically extinct and Skeletor, Sy-Klone, and Trap Jaw were just the last living members of their race that hadn’t died out yet. 

But that wasn’t even the oddest thing. 

The oddest and most disorienting detail, was that no one bat an eyelash when Skeletor parked his Battle Ram Chariot right in the middle of their town. Skeletor was the most infamous, most evil, most villainous ‘face’ on all of Eternia. Having him show up in your town should send the people into a panic. But the most anyone did was one woman wagged a blue finger at some children warning them not to play in the street lest they get run over. 

The complete and utter lack of fear of Skeletor was so disorienting that Adam found himself wondering if he’d somehow been thrown into an alternate universe. A parallel Eternia. One where Skeletor wasn’t a bad guy. 

“Where are we?” Adam heard himself ask. He was experiencing that odd disconnect again. Like when his mother told him Skeletor was his father. Like he wasn’t himself and was instead watching the life of an entirely different person through their own eyes. 

“Niban Gar.” Skeletor announced, pronouncing the name with a distinct accent. “The only place on Eternia where you can get a decent shioyaki sakana.”

“A what?” Adam had never heard that sequence of syllables before and wasn’t even sure it was a thing. Skeletor was probably just messing with him. 

Skeletor lead him to a little shack of a building near the docks. From the front hung a series of short little banners, each printed with a different character of a language that Adam couldn’t read. There was a smaller wooden sign next to the door, similarly written in a language he couldn’t read, but at least the wooden sign had the word ‘Open’ written in Standard Eternian Common. 

When Skeletor opened the door, it slid instead of swung. 

“Irasshai.” Called someone from behind the counter. They had all the enthusiasm of a person who said that phrase a million and one times and day and was tired. 

“Shioyaki sakana, to sake onegai shimasu.” Skeletor announced as he selected a table and pulled out a chair for Adam to sit down. 

Now he was very, very certain they had passed into another world at some point. This could not be his Eternia. Adam couldn’t read the language, he didn’t understand a single word anyone was saying, and nobody was afraid of Skeletor! Something was very wrong here. Something ws very, very wrong. 

“Try not to look so tense.” Skeletor said in Common. “You’re part Gar, stop acting like humans do when they come to this neighborhood.” 

“How’s that?” Adam asked. 

“Nervous and suspicious.” Skeletor supplied. “Like they expect to be attacked and robbed at any moment.”

“I do expect you to attack me at any moment.” Adam reminded Skeletor. They were enemies, after all. 

The sorcerer only shrugged. “Not today.”

A server set down a carafe and two tiny, almost shot-glass sized cups. Skeletor filled his own from the carafe. Adam reached for it the moment the sorcerer was done and sniffed at it before deciding if he was going to pour his own. Adam just barely registered the scent of alcohol before the carafe was snatched back out of his hand. 

“None for you. You’re sixteen!” Skeletor reprimanded him. He reached across the table and grabbed Adam’s unused cup and passed it to their server. “Watashi no musuko wa mizu o nomimasu.”

The server nodded and moved away. When they returned, it was to set a glass of water down in front of Adam instead. 

Adam just glared at it. “How do I know this isn’t poisoned?” He demanded. “How do I kow you didn’t ask these people to poison anything they give me? Why would you bring me to a place where I can’t speak the language if you’re trying to earn my trust?”

“That’s pointless.” Skeletor scoffed. “I already know you won’t trust me. So I might as well get a decent meal out of this. As for the language thing, that’s Randor’s failing for never allowing you to be taught. While you’re here, you might as well try and take it in a bit. You might have been raised in Eternos, but you’re still part Gar. This is your culture.”

Adam didn’t know what to say to that, so he said nothing. He only just found out he was part Gar earlier that day and wasn’t sure how he felt about it. 

He supposed being part Gar didn’t bother him all that much. It was the reason he was part Gar that he took issue with. It was being part Skeletor that bothered him. 

The server returned again, this time bringing their food. They set down two plates, one for each of them. 

“Why is my food looking at me?” Adam asked. 

On the plate that was set in front of him was a portion of rice, some sliced and picked vegetables, and a whole fish. An entire fish. The tail and the head still attached. The mouth open, as if frozen in its death gasps to breath out of the water. The eye whited out and crusted with salt. Adam wasn’t a vegetarian. He did eat meat. But he wasn’t used to his food still having a face by the time it got to him. 

Skeletor seemed unconcerned. He picked up a pair of sticks from the place setting and started eating his. Using the sticks in place of a fork. 

Adam looked at his own sticks. He had no idea how to use them and there was no fork on the table. That was fine. He had no intension of eating the fish anyway. Having his food look up at him accusatorily kinda killed his appetite. Adam slid his plate to the side. 

He glared across the table at Skeletor. He’d never seen the sorcerer eat before. Truth be told, Adam didn’t even know he could. He didn’t have a throat. His head just hovered above his shoulders without the aid of a neck. Where did the food go after it passed through his teeth?

“You said we were overdue for a talk.” Adam snapped at him. “So talk! My mother says she used to be married to you. She says that you’re my real father.” 

“It’s true.” Skeletor nodded. “You and your sister both. You’re my children.”

Adam burst to his feet, slamming his hands flat on the table and shouting a response before Skeletor’s words even made it all the way through his brain. “I refuse to believe-! Wait, sister?”

There was the beat of a pause. 

Then Skeletor sighed. “They didn’t tell you about that either? Damn it, Randor…” He took a sip of his Gar alcohol drink from the tiny cup. Why did he have to be the one to explain this? “Yes, you have a twin sister. Adora. When you were still babies I tried to take you both away from Randor. I hope you understand I didn’t want my brother raising my children. But my partner at the time betrayed me and stole your sister. I haven’t seen either of them since.”

This… was a lot…

This was all too much. His father wasn’t his father. His mother was married to Skeletor. His real father was Skeletor. He wasn’t completely human, he was half-Gar. He had a twin sister that he didn’t remember because she was lost when they were just babies… 

It was all just a little too much for Adam. 

He thought it was too much when it was just his mother explaining things in the comfort of her sitting room. But this was so, so, so much more. 

Adam didn’t know what to think, and he quickly found that he was unable to think. 

His mind just checked out. 

He reached breaking point where his mind refused to take in any new information. 

Adam didn’t realize he was fainting until he hit the floor.


	3. Like Herding Cats

“His Wind Raider was reported abandoned in a village not far from the border of the Sands of Time.” Man-at-Arms reported. 

Randor sat on his throne, hunched over, arms propped up on his knees, hands massaging his head. Adam wasn’t the only one who was dealing with a lot today. Randor never intended for the boy to learn that he was not Randor’s natural born offspring, but instead the child of his evil half-brother. He never meant for Adam to learn that he was really part Gar. And he definitely never meant for the boy he had raised for the last sixteen years and thought of as his son, to run away! 

But more than just that-

-Randor had no idea Adam was also He-Man! 

On top of all the worry about Adam and how he was handling this and if he was okay, Randor had also been dealing the a revelation of his own for the past hours. The revelation that the boy he raised from infancy, the boy that was still very much a child –as evidenced by how he just ran away from home- was also the hero they had been relying on to protect them and the planet from Skeletor. 

How could Adam be He-Man?

Adam was a soft boy. An innocent child. A little scatter-brained, sometimes lazy, absurdly clumsy at the most inconvenient times, and never around to help or learn from more seasoned warriors when trouble went down. 

Except that he was around when trouble went down. Now only was he around, he was the one who was stopping it. 

As He-Man. 

Because He-Man was Adam. 

Randor never noticed it before, but he’d never seen Adam and He-Man in the same room together. Now he was realizing why. 

It wasn’t because Adam was cowardly and ran to hide every time trouble started. It wasn’t because Adam was clumsy and accidentally locked himself in the bathroom for hours while the Evil Warriors were attacking. It wasn’t because he was lost or confused. Those were all just his excuses to protect his identity as He-Man. 

And they worked! 

No one would connect He-Man, Hero of Eternia and Most Powerful Man in the Universe, with cowardly and soft Prince Adam. 

So, Randor had been dealing with that for the last few hours.

Teela walked in behind her father, with a newer report from the same village the Wind Raider was found in. “Two guards were arresting a Gar boy they thought was trying to steal the Prince’s Wind Raider but then Skeletor showed up. They claim to have fought bravely, but in the end, Skeletor freed the Gar boy and they left together.”

“That Gar boy was probably Adam.” Man-at-Arms stroked his chin. 

“He ‘left’ with Skeletor, or was ‘taken’ by Skeletor?” That was a pretty important distinction. Randor rose from his throne, looking exhausted, although he hadn’t actually done much all day. 

Teela faltered, suddenly unsure. “They said ‘left with’.” 

“Did he seem in distress?” Randor pressed. “Did you ask any follow-up questions?” 

“Easy now.” Man-at-Arms stepped between the King and the Captain of the guard, or he stepped between his best friend and his daughter. He honestly wasn’t sure what roles they were filling here. Professional or personal. This whole debacle crossed over both. A family affair that was also a political affair. It was a mess! But regardless of what it was, Duncan did not want Randor harassing Teela over information she did not have. “Teela wants to get Adam back just as much as the rest of us. There’s no need to yell at her.”

Randor sighed. “You’re right.”

For half a second, he looked like he was about to flop back down on his throne, exhausted although he hadn’t done anything. 

Then he grit his teeth as if a thought had just occurred to him, and Randor stomped down the steps of the dais instead. He marched out of the throne room and through the halls, heading for the motorpool to get a Wind Raider of his own. 

“Wait, where’re you going!?” Demanded Man-at-Arms. 

“Something I should have done a long time ago!” Randor snapped. “I’m going to confront my brother!”

The Wind Raider –with Randor in it- flew away. Leaving only a jet of hot air in its wake that fluttered Duncan’s short little ponytail. 

“Unbelievable.” He muttered to the empty air. 

“I know, it’s so shocking.” Teela agreed, coming up next to him. She followed her father and the King out of the throne room. “Who could have ever imagined that annoying and useless Prince Adam was really He-Man all along!” 

Duncan found himself pulling on the collar-plate of his armor awkwardly. “Uh, yeah… imagine that...” 

“I understand the King is worried.” She continued. “He raised him. Just like you raised me. Adam might not be his biologically, but he is his son, just like I’m your daughter. He must think Skeletor is torturing Adam right now.”

…

When Adam woke, it was to find himself laying in one of the most comfortable feather beds he’d ever slept in. Equally as comfortable as anything that could be found in the royal palace in Eternos. In fact, for a few brief moments, Adam thought he was back at Eternos. Back in his own bed. The events of the day nothing more than a particularly vivid bad dream. 

Then he opened his eyes and was that his skin was still blue. His hair was still silver. The room he was in was not the palace of Eternos, but rather the dark stone walls of Snake Mountain. The events of the day were not a bad dream. The events of the day were real. 

Someone had removed his boots, belt, and red vest. But he was still wearing his dusky lavender pants and white mandarin-collar shirt. 

He supposed he should be thankful that Skeletor didn’t lock him in some kind of dungeon, and instead gave him a nice soft bed in which to sleep-off his fainting spell. 

Cringer was even allowed to stay with him. When Adam sat up in bed, he saw the large Green Tiger curled up at the foot of the bed. 

And no one took the Power Sword away from him either. It was leaning against the wall next to the bed, resting in the scabbard he usually carried it in. 

Cringer lifted his head when he noticed Adam was awake again. 

“Hey, boy.” Adam reached his hand out to pet the cat. “This has been one crazy day.” 

Then he lifted his eyes to examine the room he was in. 

It wasn’t the bare and utilitarian kind of room that was just left as a spare bedroom for guests (not that Adam ever imagined Skeletor accommodating guests) or upscale prisoners. Nor was it even close to a dungeon cell. It was too clean, and too comfortable. Actually, very ‘homey’. 

The walls were not bare, but had a number of posters, hangings, and framed art and photos on them. There were shelves filled with books on multiple subjects, not just reference books, but narrative stories both fiction and non-fiction. There was a small stack of books on the bedside table too, as well as a reading lamp and a pen. There was a chair by the door with multiple dark purple capes thrown over it, so many that a couple of them fell and wrinkled on the floor. 

Adam recognized his own red vest, his belt, and his boots that were also thrown onto that same chair. 

Climbing out of bed, Adam padded barefoot across the room, noting just how warm the floor was under his feet. Making his way to the chair covered in cape and his own discarded accessories. 

Adam pulled his boots back on and clipped his belt around his waist. He was about to throw his vest back on too, but then decided that it was just a little too warm in Snake Mountain for the extra layer. He left it on the chair, laying on top of all the purple capes. He had other vests back in Eternos. He had an entire closet of identical red vests. He could sacrifice one to escape Snake Mountain. 

Cautiously, Adam poked at the door knob before trying to turn it, just in case Skeletor had placed a spell-trap or even just a barrio up to prevent him from escaping. When he felt no immediate magical backlash, Adam turned the door handle and found that while it was not spelled and booby-trapped, it was locked. Of course, Skeletor wouldn’t just let him wander free in his own stronghold. They were still enemies, technically. Adam was his prisoner, and prisoners needed to be locked up. 

But a simple analogue lock was no match for He-Man! 

Pulling the Power Sword from its scabbard, Adam raised it above his head and- and a horrible thought occurred to him. 

What if it didn’t work now? What if it wouldn’t work anymore. 

Now that everyone knew he was part Gar. Now that he knew he was part Skeletor. Did the Sword now know that he wasn’t worthy? What kind of legendary hero was the son of the evil villain anyway? The Sword wouldn’t want him anymore. There was no such thing as a Gar He-Man. 

Adam slid the blade back into the sheath without even fully drawing it. 

He didn’t think he could take it if the Sword Rejected him now, on top of all the other crazy stuff that was happening. Adam just would not be able to cope with that. 

He would just have to pick the lock! He could pick a lock. Sure, Adam had never done it before and he wasn’t entirely sure how to. But if it was his only other means of escape, then Adam would figure it out. And fast! Who knew how long before Skeletor returned to collect him for whatever nefarious plan he was concocting with the Crown Prince as his hostage now. 

He bet Skeletor was plotting his most devious scheme yet!

…

The kettle whistled and Skeletor turned off the flame, using a pot-holder to grip the handle, he poured the piping hot water into a tea pot he’d already prepared with a tea bomb of soothing chamomile. 

Adam was still denying the truth of his parentage (Skeletor understood why, the spent too long as enemies), but so long as he had the boy here with him at Snake Mountain, he was going to do his damnedest to mend the breach between them! 

Step one was putting Adam at ease. Hopefully some nice soothing tea and a light snack would do that. 

Evil-Lyn came in just as he was arranging everything neatly on a tray. The tea post, two cups, and an assortment of cookies. 

“You’re back?” Evil-Lyn crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the doorframe. “You don’t look very beat-up. Did you even go to Eternos?”

“No.” Skeletor informed her. Holding the tray he tried to squeeze past her, but she was blocking the doorway. 

She lifted an eyebrow at him. “Are you having a tea party?”

“Maybe.” He taunted. “And you’re not invited.”

Evil-Lyn was unamused. She did not move to let him pass. “I feel like we need to talk about today. You and I always knew the Prince was really your son, but now he knows it and we don’t know how he’s going to react. Randor never told him, so is he gonna feel betrayed? Lied to? Manipulated? Will he turn his back on Randor and Eternos? This might actually be the best opportunity you’ll ever have to get your son back.”

“Believe it or not, that has already occurred to me.” Skeletor informed her tersely. “Now, if you don’t mind, I want to get this tea to-“

“Now we need to think about what we’re gonna tell the others.” She continued. “Not everyone is aware that you used to be Keldor. Are we just gonna tell everyone that Prince Adam decided to turn turncoat and join us? Or will he be choosing a new name and identity for himself as the son of Skeletor.” She paused a moment to think of a good moniker for the teenaged son of Skeletor. “Skeleteen.”

He cringed inwardly. That sounded terrible. There was no way on Eternia that Adam was gonna like that. But what Adam might or might not call himself wouldn’t matter if he never joined the Evil Warriors in the first place. To that end, Skeletor wanted to get this tea to his son, and get it there while it was still hot. 

“Ya know, Lyn, I did stop in Niban Gar while I was out.” He informed her. “There’s fresh taiyaki in the pantry. If it’s not eaten by the end of the day it’ll have to be put in the cold-box.”

“That’s the fish waffle, right?” Finally, Evil-Lyn moved out of the doorway. Brushing past Skeletor, she opened the kitchen pantry and found the neatly wrapped to-go box containing the pastry. A cakey waffle breading with a sweet red bean past filling, and pressed to look like a seabream. Evil-Lyn took two fish-shaped waffles out of the box. “It would be a crime to let these go to waste!”

She bit into one. The Gar made the best snacks! 

“Leave some for the others.” Skeletor called to her as he exited the kitchen and headed to his own bedroom where he stashed Adam. 

The boy was already awake when he arrived. 

He jumped back the moment the door opened, one hand going up over his shoulder to draw the Power Sword. 

There was a heartbeat of a pause in which Skeletor braced himself to an attack and to be splashed by the scalding hot tea he just prepared. 

But no attack came. 

Adam just stood there. His sword drawn. His feet planted. But the sword’s position was blocking. His feet were planted in a defensive stance. Adam was not going on the offensive. That was good. What was even better was that he didn’t even begin to raise the sword above his head and shout the words that would transform him into He-Man. 

Skeletor breathed a sigh of relief, letting out a breath he was unaware he was holding in. They were not about to fight. That was a good sign. 

Crossing the room, shoved the stack of books on his bedside table onto the floor, and set the tray down in their stead. 

The whole time, Adam kept adjusting his stance, being sure to keep the sword between himself and Skeletor and not turn his back to the enemy. At least he’d received decent training while being raised by Randor. Of that, at least, Skeletor could be thankful for. 

“Put your sword down.” Skeletor commanded. 

Adam did not.

Cringer hissed at Skeletor. 

Neither of them looked like they were about to relax and partake of the tea and cookies, or talk. 

Heaving a sigh, Skeletor poured a cup of tea for himself and crossed the room to his chair. He threw all of his discarded capes (and Adam’s red vest) on the floor and sat down. He would wait for them to calm down. 

Skeletor blew on his tea. It was still quite hot. “Let me know when you calm down.”

“I won’t be your prisoner!” Adam announced. 

Skeletor glanced to the open door. Then back at his son. “Okay.” He took a sip of his tea. 

Adam similarly looked at the bedroom door, now hanging open. It was locked when he first woke up. This had to be some kind of manipulation. “If I’m not your prisoner, why was the door locked before?”

“To keep the cat’s apart.” Skeletor answered, as if this should have been obvious. Cringer –or Battle Cat- and Panthor have been enemies just as long as He-Man and Skeletor have been enemies. And unlike Skeletor and Adam, cats did not make friends as easily. 

Adam looked to Cringer at his side. 

The large Green Tiger sat and wrapped his tail around his legs. Skeletor had a point. If he ran into Panthor, they would definitely, definitely fight. Fur would fly! 

Finally, Adam lowered his sword. But he did not resheath it over his back. He looked at the teapot and the empty cup. Skeletor was drinking from the same tea pot, so the pot could not be poisoned. 

Picking up the second tea cup, Adam blew in it just in case the cup was poisoned instead. He even went the extra bit further and wiped the inside of the cup and the lip with the hem of his shirt. The shirt came away clean. Nothing was added to the cup that might poison or drug the tea. Reluctantly, almost disappointed that he didn’t find any sign of duplicity, Adam poured a cup of tea for himself. 

He sat on the foot of the bed, facing Skeletor. 

Everything felt so surreal. 

Nobody said anything for several moments. Adam blew on his tea to cool it. Skeletor sipped his. Tipping the cup over his teeth and into his mouth. Adam wasn’t sure where it went. Skeletor had no neck, and thus no throat for it to pass down. His skull just floated above his shoulders. But this was the second time Adam witnessed him eat or drink something as if he were an ordinary, living being that needed to eat and drink. 

Watching Skeletor eat and drink was actually about as weird as everything else that was going on. 

Cringer hopped up on the bed next to Adam, and he scratched the Green Tiger behind the ears and under the chin. His faithful companion. No one else in the palace of Eternos kept a large feline as a companion. …and then a thought occurred to him. 

“You like cats?” Adam asked, sounding juvenile and foolish, even to his own ears. 

“I do.” Skeletor nodded. “I’ve had several cats in my lifetime. Panthor is my fifth cat. Around the time you were born I had another Dylinx named Obake. She was really cute. She had a genetic mutation that gave her a split tail.”

Adam didn’t know what he was supposed to say to that. So he just continued with his original though. “My fath- I mean, Randor doesn’t really like cats. I mean, he doesn’t hate them, he’s got nothing against Cringer. He just doesn’t like cats as much as I do. Same goes for my mother. I practically had to beg them to let me have Cringer.”

“My mother also really liked cats.” Skeletor informed him. “You come from a long line of cat people. I bet Adora, wherever she is, managed to find some kind of cat for herself to love.”

“And Adora is my twin sister.” Adam felt a little light headed again and he sipped his tea to wet his throat. 

It was the revelation that he had a twin sister that was kidnapped and separated from him when they were still just babies that broke him. It was just too much. On top of everything else. Learning that he was not fully human, and that his father was really Skeletor was shocking enough. But finding out he also had a twin was the last straw. Adam didn’t wanna pass out from too many shocked again. He needed to take things slowly. 

“Yes.” Skeletor conformed. “You and Adora are fraternal twins, and you’re both mine.”

Adam sipped his tea again. 

“And the reason she’s not here, and I’ve never heard of her, is because she was kidnapped by your ex-partner when he betrayed you, when you were already trying to kidnap both of us from Eternos.” Adam was just trying to go over what he thought he heard before he passed out. 

“As I said.” Skeletor nodded again. 

Adam was glad he was already sitting down, because he needed to sit down. 

“Now I have a question.” Skeletor announced. “It seemed to me, you were running away from Eternos when I found you in the village. What are you planning to do now that you know-?”

He was cut off when a streak of black fur and angry muscle came bounding into the room and pounced on Cringer with an angry snarl. 

Adam had to jump out of the way, dropping his tea cup and spilling the tea all over the carpet in his hast to get out of the way of the two large feline bodies hitting the floor in a tangle of claws and hissing snarls. 

“Cringer!” Adam cried in horror as he watched his precious cat get attacked. 

“Panthor!” Skeletor bolted to his feet and stomped over to the tangle of furry bodies. 

Thrusting his hand into the fray with no thought to how Dylinx or Green Tiger claws could reduce his arm to ribbons, Skeletor grabbed Panthor by the scruff of his neck and pulled the dark Dylinx off of Cringer. 

“No!” He said very firmly to the large cat, still holding him by the scruff. “Bad kitty! No fighting. Cringer and Adam are our guests right now.”

Panthor’s only response to this was to hiss again. 

“Did you just hiss at me!” Skeletor was personally offended. 

Panthor quickly closed his mouth, but a low irritated growl continued to issue from the depths of the Dylinx’s throat. Panthor was not happy to have another cat infringing on his territory. 

Adam was also holding Cringer. Both arms wrapped around the large Green Tiger, holding him more to comfort the cat after being attacked rather than holding him back from continuing the fight. 

“How do we get them to not fight?” Adam asked. All his life, he’d only ever had just the one cat. But, by his own words, Skeletor had several. Theoretically, he should know what to do. 

“We have to lock them in separate room and sniff each other through the door.” Skeletor supplied. “Make them get used to having the other’s scent in their home.” 

“Oh, no.” Adam was on his feet again, paling himself between Skeletor and Panthor, and poor Cringer who was so scared his fur was still all puffed out. “You just want an excuse to lock Cringer up so you can use him as a hostage against me! Well, I won’t let you!”

Still holding Panthor by the scruff, Skeletor did another one of those full-head skull rolls. Since he couldn’t roll his eyes, the gesture was the next closest approximation he could make. “If I wanted to lock up your cat, or you, or you and your cat, I would have done it while you were unconscious. Not wait until you woke up so you can mouth off and fight back.”

Skeletor pointed to a door opposite the open bedroom door. Adam had tried it earlier when he was trying to escape and found that it was just a bathroom. 

“Take Cringer in there.” He said. “Go in with him so he’s not alone. I’ll let go of Panthor and we can let the cats get used to each other like that.”

Adam only continued to glare at him suspiciously. 

Skeletor huffed. “If I was going to lock you up, there was much better places for me to imprison you than my own private wash room!”

Reluctantly, Adam had to admit that was true. This was Snake Mountain. It had no shortage of dungeons and torture pits. Taking Cringer by the scruff, Adam lead him into the bathroom, shutting the door behind them. 

Panthor tried to get his paws under the door. Claws extended, hoping he might be able to swipe at Cringer through the barrier. Adam stroked Cringer, offering comfort while they watched the obviously more aggressive cat try and attack through a closed door. 

Outside the bathroom, Skeletor sat on the floor next to Panthor, and tried to coo soothingly at the Dylinx. Speaking in both Common and Garese. “You’re not allowed to harm Cringer anymore. Adam is my son and Cringer is his cat.” 

This went on for a few minutes until Panthor grew board. He backed up from the bathroom door, just enough so that if Cringer decided to try and slip his paw under the door, he wouldn’t feel him. Then he sat down in an angry loaf of black fur to await when Cringer would emerge from the bathroom again. 

Hearing Panthor stop his assault and relent, Adam called through the door. “Is that it? Are you friends now?”

“No.” Skeletor had to admit. “He’s still being a little bastard.”

Scooping up the Dylinx, Skeletor hefted the large cat in his arms. Lifting him up and carrying him out of the room. He shut the door again before Panthor could dart back in. Getting two cats to tolerate each other was hard enough without said cats explicitly being enemies before hand. 

“Okay, you can come out now.” Skeletor called. That would have to be enough for a first attempt. 

“Where’s Panthor go?” Adam asked, eyes scanning the room almost as cautiously as Cringer was. 

“He wasn’t calming down, so I sent him out of the room.” Skeletor answered truthfully. He picked up a couple of his discarded capes that had been splashed with tea when he jumped to break up the catfight, and draped them over the back of his chair. Then turned back to Adam. “Now, before that interruption, I was asking you what you planned to do now. It seemed to me you were running away from Eternos when those guards tried to arrest you. So, if Eternos is where you were running from, where were you running to?”

Adam side-eyes him. He knew what Skeletor was really asking. He found Adam in the closest village to Snake Mountain. From Skeletor’s point of view, it looked like Adam was heading towards Snake Mountain. To him. 

“Perhaps I should ask a different question.” Skeletor decided. “Now that you know the truth, what are you going to do?”

Honestly. Adam had no idea. 

Luckily, he was saved from having to answer. 

The door burst open. Only this time instead of a large angry cat running in, it was Evil-Lyn standing in the door way. 

“Intruder at the main entrance!” She announced. “King Randor’s come for the Prince!”


	4. Skeletor & Randor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the reasons this update took so long was because I couldn’t decide on a detailed backstory for Skeletor and Randor. This fic started off in the 2002 He-Man universe and in that canon, Miro was never a king, Keldor and Randor were never princes, Randor was just randomly named “king” by the council of the elders in the first episode. 
> 
> But in all other MotU canons, not only was Miro a king, but Miro came from a long line of Kings, and Keldor and Randor grew up as royalty. The 2002 backstory always felt awkward to me, and I never really vibed with it. The, always being royalty backstory felt much more organic and made sense. So, to spite this fic having started off in the 2002 He-Man, we will not be adhering to that canon. We will be going with the wider MotU backstory for the House of Miro. 
> 
> * Miro was king before Randor,  
> * Keldor and Randor grew up as Princes,  
> * Keldor was the older brother and assumed to be Heir to the Throne until Miro said ‘nah’

Beastman and Trap Jaw both had their hands full trying to prevent one pissed off King Randor from forcing his way into Snake Mountain. Randor had his sword in his hands and was parrying both Beastman’s whip and Trap Jaw’s hook arm. 

“Aren’t we supposed to be the ones attacking you in your home with a flimsy and poorly thought you plan?” Demanded Trap Jaw as he blocked a slash from the King’s sword with his prosthetic arm. 

“Get out of my way!” Randor snarled at them. “Skeletor has my son and I’m not leaving until I get him back!”

“What’s he talkin’ ‘bout?” Beastman asked of his companion. “Ain’t no children here.”

That was about the time Skeletor came running up with none other than Prince Adam, whom had just been newly revealed as part Gar. They recognized him from his shocking transformation in the throne room of Eternos. It would take some time for them to get used to seeing Prince Adam with blue skin and pointed ears, silver-white hair instead of yellow-blond. But it was definitely the Prince. 

“Oh.” Beastman looked down at his feet, realizing that he once again just wasn’t understanding a situation. “I guess there is a kid here.”

“Adam!” Randor tried to push past Trap Jaw and Beastman, but the henchmen continued to hold him back. 

Skeletor crossed his arms over his chest, unimpressed and impatient. “What are you doing here, Randor?”

“I came to get my son back!” The King shouted. 

“You mean my son.” Skeletor placed an arm around Adam’s shoulders, trying to pull the boy closer to him. 

Adam pulled out of his hold. He still wasn’t sure how comfortable he was with the whole ‘Skeletor is really my dad’ thing. Less than twelve hours ago, they were still mortal enemies. Instead, he focused his attention on Randor. “What are you doing here, fath- uh, King Randor?”

“I’m still your father.” Randor informed him. 

“You are not!” Skeletor shouted. 

“I raised him!” Randor shouted back, matching Skeletor’s volume and tone. 

“Only because you kept him from me!” Skeletor raised his voice even louder. 

“No. I kept him safe!” Randor snarled back, practically spitting the words. “Or did you forget about that partner of yours? How’s Adora? You seen her recently? ‘Cause I sure haven’t! Where is she? Do you even know if your daughter is still alive?”

At the mention of Adora, Skeletor lost it. Any attempted self-control was tossed aside -along with his Havoc Staff and cape. Skeletor drew his dual-blade sword, separating it into two separate sabers. “You wanna go, Randor! Let’s go!”

“Gladly!” Randor snapped back.

Wisely, Trap Jaw and Beastman backed up. They back up far. 

If the boss and King Randor wanted to beat the crap out of each other, fine. Let them. Better the boss got his butt handed to him than they did. Besides, Skeletor and Randor had a score -a number of scores, apparently- to settle. 

“Don’t hurt him!” Adam shouted, but it was unclear at which father, exactly, he was shouting at. 

Ultimately, it didn’t matter, neither one appeared to actually be paying much attention to Adam (to spite the fact that he was the one Randor claimed to have been looking for). Randor and Skeletor’s attentions were focused only on each other. They circled each other, twirling their swords, and striking dramatic poses. 

The halls of Snake Mountain were filled with the clangs of steel against steel as all their twirling and posing occasionally brought their blades together. 

Adam kept dashing around the combatants, not sure if he should intervene. Who should he protect? Should he even take a side at all? Randor raised him, but Randor had also been lying to him his whole life, even going so far as to get a powerful glamour placed on him so that Adam didn’t even know his own race. Skeletor was his biological father and very clearly wanted him, but, Skeletor had also spent almost Adam’s entire young life as an enemy. 

About the only thing Adam was sure of was that he didn’t want either of them to die. 

“Stop!” He shouted at them. “Don’t hurt each other!”

These please went mostly ignored. Skeletor and Randor seemed like they just really, really, really wanted to wail on each other. 

“You’ve always been like this!” Skeletor snarled at Randor. “You always have to take what’s mine! My children, my wife, my crown!”

Randor blocked one of Skeletor’s twin swords, then had to do a slopy but quick dodge to avoid the other. “I raised Adam, so he’s my child, I didn’t think you were ever that into Marlena, and Father gave me the crown! I never asked for it!”

Bringing his swords back together, Skeletor snapped them back into one, trapping Randor’s blade in the narrow gap between the dual blades. Randor tried to pull away, but his sword was held in such a way that if he did, he would snap his own blade between Skeletor’s. 

“You could have said ‘no’!” Skeletor snapped, before surging forward and dealing a hard-headbutt to Randor’s forehead. His skull making an uncomfortable CRACK sound against Randor’s face. “You could have just accepted it for a little bit to please father, then abdicated in favor of me!”

From out of another tunnel, Evil-Lyn appeared to join Trap Jaw and Beastman who were just watching their boss fight the King. She took a large bite out of a pastry shaped like a fish, one hand resting on her hip. 

“I see it didn’t take them long to bring up ‘daddy’.” She commented through a mouthful of pastry. 

Both Trap Jaw and Beastman turned to look at her. For a hot second, Evil-Lyn thought they were surprised that Skeletor was King Randor’s brother. It was sometimes hard keeping track of everyone who knew him back when he was Keldor. But that was not what they asked about. 

“Is that taiyaki?” Asked Trap Jaw. “When did we get taiyaki?”

“Is that that Garese fish bread?” Beastman was similarly excited. “I want fish bread! Is there more?”

“Skeletor says it’s just for me.” Evil-Lyn lied. Skeletor actually very clearly told her to save some for them. She took another large bite of the pastry, and made eye-contact with them as she chewed it slowly. 

Desperate to stop his fathers from fighting, Adam reached a hand over one shoulder to grab at the hilt of the Power Sword. But he found himself hesitating again. That thought that the sword might reject him now creeping back into his mind. What if he was suddenly unworthy now that the sword knew what he really was?

Instead of drawing the sword, Adam tried to pull Randor and Skeletor apart. “Stop it, both of you!”

But both men pushed him away, making sure to shove him in a direction away from anyone’s sword. 

“Stay out of this, Adam.” Randor commanded. 

“There’s a lot more going on here than you understand.” Skeletor offered the barest of explanations. 

Satisfied that Adam was safely out of the way, they turned their attention back to their fight. 

“How could I abdicate for you when literally everything you did just proved father was right and you’re unfit to be King!?” Randor snapped. 

“The only reason father named you heir over me was because I’m blue and he wasn’t!” Skeletor countered with vehemence. “He wanted an heir who looked like him.”

At that Randor rolled his eyes. In the middle of a fight. Took his attention off his opponent for the time it took to roll his eyes in exasperation. “Oh, for the love of the Goddess, Keld- Skeletor, we both look like father!” A pause. “Well, you don’t anymore. But, like, before you lost your face, you just looked like a pallet-swap of father.”

Skeletor did another one of those head-rolls that was equivalent substitution for an eye-roll. “Still missing the point, Randor!”

He kicked at Randor’s ankles, unbalancing him, then delt a second kick high up. Hitting Randor in the stomach and forcing him back. 

Randor stumbled. Let go of his sword in an effort to keep his balance. Fell flat on his backside anyway. 

Skeletor advanced on him, holding his own dual bladed sword in one hand, and Randor’s discarded sword in the other. 

Adam’s heart leapt up into his throat. For a heartbeat of a second, he thought he was about to watch his biological father kill the father who raised him. 

Then Randor lashed out with his legs, kicking Skeletor’s feet out from under him too. 

They both tumbled on the ground. Rolling around like children in a school-yard brawl. 

“That was a dirty trick!” Skeletor snarled. 

“What can I say, my big brother taught me to fight dirty!” Randor taunted back. 

Randor tried clawing at Skeletor’s skull, but his fingers couldn’t find purchase on the smooth bone surface. His nails just scrapped over it making the most uncomfortable sound, but otherwise leaving Skeletor unharmed. 

Skeletor, meanwhile, managed to get a fist-full of Randor’s thick auburn hair. He yanked on it hard, making the other man hiss in pain, his eyes watering. 

“Ha!” Skeletor mocked. “Who’s pulling who’s hair now!?”

Randor only groaned. 

Off to the side, Evil-Lyn sighed with nostalgia. “This takes me back.”

Beastman and Trap Jaw turned to look at her. They forgot sometimes that she knew Skeletor back before he was Skeletor. She knew him very well, in fact. 

Adam rushed over to Evil-Lyn. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do, but if Evil-Lyn had known them since before Skeletor was Skeletor, maybe she knew how to get them to stop fighting too. 

“Can you help?” Adam pleaded with her. 

Evil-Lyn’s only response to this was to take another bite of her taiyaki. 

“Please?” Adam pleaded with her. He was afraid to use the Power Sword to become He-Man and step in between them, and they already just proved that he was powerless to stop them as just plain Prince Adam. 

Slowly, leisurely almost, Evil-Lyn finished eating her pastry. Taking her time to lick her fingers. Then she pushed Adam to the side and advanced towards the combatants still grappling on the ground. 

Raising her arms, Evil-Lyn muttered a quick spell and both Skeletor and Randor were levitated up off the ground. Evil-Lyn moved her arms again, and the two drifted far enough apart that they wouldn’t be able to attack each other unless she released them. 

“As fun as it is, watching re-runs of your sibling rivalry, your son is on the verge of crying and I’m not gonna be the one to deal with that.” She made a point of kicking the swords away from them before releasing her spell and letting the brothers drop to the floor. 

They both landed on their backsides with near identical sounding ‘OOFs’ of discomfort. 

“Adam?” Both men looked up at him with concern. 

It was true, Adam did look very distressed. One hand reaching up over his shoulder and resting on the Power Sword without drawing it. The other arm hanging limply at his side, almost defeated. He looked more than just confused. He looked lost and unsure. 

“Please, can’t we all just…” Oh, he definitely, definitely looked like he was one more dramatic event away from not just crying but a complete nervous breakdown. “…talk through our problems?”

There was a pause. 

Randor and Skeletor exchanged a look. As if the idea of just talking out their grievances never even occurred to them. 

Placing her hands on her hips, Evil-Lyn huffed. “Maybe you can start by explaining to Adam some of your pasts?” She suggested. “He’s had nothing but shocks since the glamour was broken, but no follow-up explanations to help him make sense of things. You-“ she jabbed a finger at Randor “-maybe if you had been honest and told him the truth from the beginning, he wouldn’t have run away. And you-“ she jabbed a finger at Skeletor “-if you could just calm down and stop trying to kill your brother for, like, five minutes and talk, maybe your son would be more willing to trust you.”

Adam had never before had more respect and appreciation for Evil-Lyn than he did in that exact moment. She summarized perfectly everything he wanted to say but was too distraught to find words for. 

Both men looked back at Adam. 

He fidgeted under all the attention, suddenly realizing that everyone in the room was staring at him. Not just Skeletor and Randor, but Evil-Lyn, Trap Jaw, and Beastman as well. All eyes were on him and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. 

“I, uh-“ Adam began, unsure. “Mother tried explaining a little bit to me. But… there’s just so much I don’t understand!”

Pushing himself back to his feet, Skeletor came over to place what he hoped was a comforting and reassuring hand on his son’s shoulder. “It all started after I defeated Count Marzo’s forces for my father.”

“Excuse you!” Randor jumped up and rushed to Adam’s other side, placing his own hand on Adam’s other shoulder. “I defeated Marzo for father!”

Behind Adam, he heard Evil-Lyn mutter, “Technically, your soldiers defeated Marzo.”

“What was that?” Skeletor raised his empty eye-sockets to glare at her. 

“Nothing.” Evil-Lyn offered him a reassuring smile. “Just commenting that I think I need another fish waffle for this.”

She left.

“So there is more taiyaki!” Trap Jaw followed her out. 

So did Beastman. 

Adam was glad that Skeletor and Randor weren’t fighting anymore. But he was still waiting on an explanation from them. “So, what I’m hearing is that our story starts when someone named Marzo was defeated in the name of King Miro.”

…

Celebrations were in full swing. The throne room and great hall were decorated with hangings in the colors of the royal house of Miro, with the personal banners of the Princes on display. A white skull on a background of blue for Prince Keldor, and an inverted cross in gold on a background of orange for Prince Randor. The banners hanging from the ceiling in two neat rows running the length of the room. 

Music played. People danced. Drinks were pored. Glasses clinked together. People laughed. It was probably the biggest celebration Eternos had seen since before Count Marzo began his rebellion. 

“Have you seen Keldor?” Prince Randor moved through the crowd, searching for his older brother. “Oi! Has anyone seen Keldor? Prince Keldor! About my height, long black hair, pointy ears. …blue.”

Off to the side somewhere, Randor overheard someone comment, “Aw, he’s lost without his big brother. That’s so cute!”

And their companion reply, “Leave him alone, Prince Randor’s just a kid.”

Randor was not a kid. Randor was twenty-two. He just wasn’t growing his beard out like his father and Keldor had grown thiers out, so he looked younger than he was. 

“Hey, if you’re looking for Prince Keldor, I think he went to the secret alcove with Ms. Powers.” Someone informed Randor.

“Thanks.” Randor tried to nod his thank you at the speaker, but they melted back into the crowd before Randor could even see who it was. 

The ‘secret alcove’ was not a secret. It wasn’t even an alcove, technically. It was a corner of the room where poor planning on the part of the architects had placed a pillar impractically close to the wall. It resulted in a small tight space that was only large enough for two people (or three of they got really, really close) to slip behind the pillar and be completely out of sight. One would have to be trying to enter the small space themselves to see what exactly was going on in the ‘secret alcove’.

Randor didn’t have to get that close to know what his brother was doing with Ms. Powers in the alcove. It was no secret that Prince Keldor and Evelyn Powers were lovers, and Keldor just got back from a long military campaign. They were reunited after a prolonged separation and eager to reaffirm their affections. 

He could hear Evelyn giggling from around the pillar. “What if -huff- what if someone sees us?”

“No one can see us here unless they’re really trying to.” Keldor’s voice drifted around the pillar, sounding muffled and oddly wet. “If that’s the case, then they’ll be having words with me. Remember: I outrank everyone here.”

“You don’t outrank father.” Randor called around the pillar, his eyes pinched shut so that he didn’t risk seeing whatever it was his brother was doing to Ms. Powers that made his voice sound as wet as it did. 

Keldor uttered an expletive that might have been appropriate for the battlefield but was definitely, definitely unbecoming of a Prince at a royal function. There was the sound of someone’s feet returning to the floor and the rustle of fabric being moved back into place. 

Then Keldor poked his head around the pillar, coming out at a level about half his standing height. Whatever Keldor was doing with Evelyn back there, she had him on his knees. Keldor’s hair was a tousled mess, and his mustache and goatee looked suspiciously wet for some reason. “Go away, Randor!”

Randor did not move. “Father wants to talk to you.”

Keldor’s whole demeanor changed. His expression melted from annoyed with his irritating kid brother interrupting his romantic rendezvous, and morphed into something akin to an odd kind of excitement that didn’t seem to sit quite right on an adult’s face. It was the expression of a child that was over-eager to impress a demanding parent. 

“Oh, father wants me!” He raked his fingers through his hair to try and tame it back so that it laid sleek and smooth again, making sure to hook any errant strands behind his pointed ears where they would stay out of his face. He wiped his hands over his facial hair to try and clear it of… whatever that was. He straightened his clothes, then marched from the alcove as if whatever he’d just been doing with Ms. Powers was unimportant. 

“Unbelievable.” Evelyn muttered, still hiding behind the pillar where Randor couldn’t see her clearly. Her comment probably wasn’t meant for him anyway. “One mention of ‘daddy’ and suddenly nothing else matters.”

Randor didn’t know what to say to that. She probably wasn’t looking for a reply anyway. He left the lady to right her own clothing -or whatever she had to do- and followed Keldor. 

King Miro was waiting for them in an antechamber just off the throne room. He was reading over a document when Keldor and Randor entered through a door on the dais concealed behind the throne. 

Miro looked up at them. Then immediately frowned at Keldor’s appearance. “Do I not employ enough servants to help groom and cloth you for public appearances?” 

Honestly, Keldor looked fine to Randor. His hair was brushed, and he was wearing clothes that actually covered his chest and abs. What more did father want?

Keldor looked down at his own appearance, trying to catch all the flaws before his father had the chance to begin listing them. He loosened his belt enough to move the tunic back into place so that it laid flat over his belly, then replaced the belt how it was supposed to sit on his hips. He readjusted the formal cape where it was slightly skewed to the side and falling asymmetrically over his shoulders, and he raked his fingers through his hair again, trying to smooth out any kinks left behind from his rendezvous with Evelyn (she liked to pull his hair when she was enjoying herself). 

When he was done, Keldor looked to his father for approval. 

Miro did not give any indicator of anything. Neither approval nor disproval. He merely turned his attention back to the document in his hands and without looking up said, “Randor, you may go back to enjoying the party. You’re not needed here.”

“’Kay.” Randor left out the same door he came. 

Miro waited a few moments just to make sure his younger son wasn’t about to come barging back in for whatever reason to interrupt. When he didn’t Miro focused all his attention on Keldor. 

“Defeating Marzo is meaningless if we don’t unite the factions.” He announced. “We need to bring his lands and supporters back into the royal fold, or else another warlord will just step up to fill the space he’s vacated, and this inane rebellion will continue.” 

Keldor nodded, thinking he understood what his father was saying. “I’ll wait until my men have rested and slept off tonight’s libations, then take a small force of my best warriors to take out any viable heirs of Marzo.”

“Don’t try and guess my mind, boy, you’re bad at it.” Miro reprimanded his son. “More killing will do exactly the opposite of uniting Eternia, it will just further drive the wedge between us and the other territories. Unity, can only be achieved through a union.”

For a half of a second, Keldor didn’t understand. The gears in his head seemed to be working extra slow processing what his father was telling him. Then his eyes fell on the document Miro had been reading before he walked in and Keldor realized it was a nuptial contract. 

“You want me to get married!” Keldor heard himself blurt out. 

“It’s high time you did.” Miro announced. “You can’t carry on with that sorceress from the Burning Sands forever. This treaty with Marzo’s defeated lieutenants offers the perfect opportunity. We will unite Eternia, and you can finally gain some respectability -something you’ve been severely lacking.”

Keldor thought he was very well respected among the soldiers of the military, and the sorcerers of Eternos. He was an excellent fighter, a shrewd commander, and a formidable sorcerer. All of which he achieved to earn his father’s approval and respect. But that was the crux of the issue wasn’t it. It wasn’t the military’s, or the magical community’s, or even the court’s approval Keldor seemed to always be lacking. 

It was Miro’s. No matter what Keldor did or didn’t do -thus far- he hadn’t earned his father’s approval. 

That didn’t mean Keldor was going to stop trying. Keldor was willing to do just about anything to earn his father’s approval. 

Clearig his throat, Keldor schooled his features into an expression he hoped his father would read as ‘business neutral’ and nodded. As if agreeing with the decision that had already been made for him. “Understood, father. As the future ruler of Eternia, of course I’m willing to do whatever needs to be done to ensure the lasting stability of my kingdom.”

If Miro frowned with disapproval at Keldor calling himself the future ruler of Eternia, Keldor chose not to notice. He was Miro’s first born, the eldest Prince, and soon to be married and presumably making heirs of his own. Why shouldn’t Keldor inherit? 

“Good.” Miro nodded, rolling up the document. “I’ll send the contract tonight. Pending their agreement to the terms, Lady Marlena will be in the capital within a fortnight, and you’ll be married by the end of the month.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this story isn't concluded. But I've written all I really want to write for it. It's a fun idea, but a little hard to work with narratively. If anyone else wants to take up the challenge of a "Skeletor is Adam's father" AU, please do. I would love to read it! :D But for now I'm done. Thank you.


End file.
